Monthly maintenance of your Garage Door

While it is always recommended for you call a service technician once every few months to service your garage door for you, there are a few things that you should think of doing on a monthly basis so that you can pre-empt any major issues or damage. However, it is important to understand that garage doors can be extremely dangerous and if, at any point, you feel that something is not right, you can call companies like Gladstone Garage Door to come and have a look at the problem.

Visual Inspection
Stand inside your garage with your garage door closed and try and inspect each and every part of the door from inside—look for signs of wear and tear in the cables, loose bolts and hanging brackets, noisy pulley or springs. If you see any concerns, a timely call to Garage Door Repair Gladstone could save you money!

Reverse Mechanism Test
According to the law, your garage door should immediately initiate reverse mode if it finds an obstruction in its path. It is extremely important to test this on a regular basis as a number of accidents could occur if the reverse mechanism on your garage door is mal-functioning. All you need to do is put a cardboard box and a packet of toilet tissue in the path of the door. The door should automatically go back. If it doesn’t, you need to call in a technician

Photo-electric sensors
Photo-eyes are also safety devices that are installed six inches above floor level and they transmit and receive invisible beams. If there is an object blocking the path of the beam, it will again initiate reverse mode. In your monthly maintenance checks, it is quite important to give these sensor a good wipe and make sure they are aligned and facing each other.

Lubricate
Once every six months, you might want to very lightly lubricate the door tracks, hinges and springs to make sure there is no unnecessary friction between any metal parts.

Door Balance Test
To make sure the garage door is balanced properly, you should disconnect it from the electric door opener. Once you have done that, try lifting the door manually. If it doesn’t lift easily and doesn’t stay open, there may be a problem with the balance of the door.

Force setting Test
There is only certain amount of force used by the garage door when closing. You can check this by opening the garage door and then using the keypad on the wall to close it. While the door is coming down, stretch your hand and try and stop the door. It should immediately stop and retract. If it doesn’t and continues to come down, the force being used by the door is in excess of the requirement and needs looking at by a technician.